Apparatus for forming spiral tubing



United States Patent 72] Inventor Erik Brown Amherst, New Hampshire [21] Appl. No. 771,095 [22] Filed Oct. 28, 1968 [45] Patented Nov. 10, 1970 [73] Assignee Brown Products, Inc.

I a corporation of New Hampshire [54] APPARATUS FOR FORMING SPIRAL TUBING 4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl ..93/80, 93/1 93/8 [51] Int. Cl B3lc 3/00, B31fl/00;B3lb H58 [50] Field of Search 93/1(WZ), 8(OW), 80. 94. 59(CL). 59(ES), 77(CL) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,209,537 7/1940 Perry 161/123 2,382,930 8/1945 Williams 93/8(OW)UX 2,882,802 4/1959 Walker 93/l(WZ)UX 3,108,516 lO/l963 Elam 93/80 3,164,069 l/l965 Wilkie"... 93/l(WZ)UX 3,335,932 8/l967 Brown. 229/14 3,354,800 11/1967 Sato 93/94 3,385,l79 5/l968 Roe 93/94 3,460,445 8/1969 Ried 93/80 Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, Jr. Attorney- Pennie, Edmonds, Morton, Taylor and Adams ABSTRACT: Apparatus for winding spiral tubing of crushable, i.e. deformable, cushioning material in a continuous manner in which a plurality of strips of primary wrapping material are first wound upon a stationary mandrel of the desired diameter to form a multilayer spiral tube of predetermined length. Two similar power driven winding or driving belts are arranged in spaced relation crosswise of the mandrel and one side section of each belt encircles the formed spiral tube. A strip of final wrapping or sheathing material is delivered to the tube at a position between the two driving belts.

Patented Nov. 10,1970 3,538,817

l V ATTORNEYS I I I w .I I I 4 I |||.|||||l |l\|| I 7 ll n l I Patented Nov. 10,1970

Sheet 1 MAM TENQ I I l I I I I I I I I Illll 1| IIIIII I I I I I I I I I I l I I ATTORNEYS 1 APPARATUS FOR FORMING SPIRAL TUBING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Description of the Prior Art arrangements for forming a spiral wound tubular member from which the cushion pads can be made. The present application relates to apparatus for forming such spiral tubing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In forming or winding spiral tubing of deformable material such as single-face corrugated paper or plastic or soft wrapping material made of a loosely felted product or of a material having molded felted flutes as disclosed in Perry U.S. Pat. No. 2,209,537, or combinations of such material, it is difficult to wind strips of such material without crushing the deformable material to such an extent that the product cannot be used for making cushioning or packing material. In accordance with the present invention an apparatus has been devised which overcomes this difficulty and produces a spiral tube composed of a plurality of biased encircling layers of deformable cushioning material from which cushion pads can he made having unimpaired cushioning properties.

In accordance with the invention a plurality of layer-forming strips of primary wrapping material such as single-face corrugated paper are, e.g. wound by hand, upon a stationary mandrel to form a multilayer spiral tube. Two similar winding or driving belts are arranged in spaced relation crosswise of the mandrel. The tube has a partially formed portion on the inner end part or section of the mandrel and a completely formed portion on the outer end section of the mandrel. One of the runs or side sections of the first endless belt encircles the first turn or wrapping of the full number of layers of the primary wrapping material, and one of the side sections of the second endless belt encircles the completely formed tube. The strip of final wrapping material is drawn onto and wrapped around the spirally wound layers at a point between the two endless belts. Advantageously the side section of the second endless belt encircles the first turn or wrapping of the strip of final wrapping material and draws this strip around the formed tube.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the tube-forming apparatus as a whole;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view showing the two endless driving belts and the tube-forming material approaching and being wound about the stationary mandrel;

FIG. 3 is a-schematic elevational view showing the feed of the strips of layer-forming material for the primary wrapping;

FIG. a is a schematic top view of the parts shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a transverse section on line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a side view partly in section of the tube as it undergoes formation; and

FIG. 7 is a cross section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

The apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 is built up of a framework 7 generally rectangular in shape and of conventional steel frame parts. This framework comprises a lower rectangular section 8 and an upper rectangular section 9, the two being joined together by upright corner posts 10. A mandrel I] which consists of a polished forming rod is mounted in stationary position and extends from a support 12 between the lower and upper frame sections 8 and 9, projecting somewhat beyond the framework at the left.

The layer-forming strips are shown as being four in number although less or more of these strips may be used, as desired. The lowermost strip is indicated by reference numeral 13 and the remaining strips are designated at 14, 15 and 16 respectively. The lowermost strip 13 is advantageously composed of a paper backing 17 to which is adhered a layer 18 of loosely felted material (see FIGS. 5, 6 and 7). Layer-forming strips 13-16 come from supply rolls 19-22 and pass over guide rolls 23 to 26. Between the supply rolls and the guide rolls the three strips I4, 15 and 16 contact glue rolls 27, 28 and 29 by which adhesive is applied to the bottom surfaces of these strips. Guide rolls 23-26 deliver the layer-forming strips to mandrel 11 at the desired angular relation thereto which depends upon the pitch angle of the successive turns of the strips which form the tube.

As may be-seen from FIGS. 6 and 7 the first layer-forming strip 13 which forms the innermost layer of the spiral tube is wound with successive turns in edge to edge or butt relationship. The successive layer-forming strips 14, 15 and 16 are wound in a similar manner but in staggered relation to one another so that each strip overlaps the strip beneath it.

, The innermost layer is formed of the strip 13, the inner portion of which is of loosely felted material indicated at 18, its outer surface consisting of a sheet of paper. The outermost covering or sheathing is formed by the final wrapping strip 30 of Kraft or somewhat similar paper. Inbetween are shown three layers each consisting of single-face corrugated paper formed by the layer-forming strips 14, 15 and 16. Other materials previously mentioned may be used instead of the single face corrugated paper. Also the innermost layer, or all of the layers, may be made of a soft foam material such for example as that sold under the trademark STYROFOAM adhered to a sheet of light Kraft paper.

In order to place theapparatus in operation a partially formed spiral tube is wound by hand upon mandrel l1 and this partially formed section extends from the point of application of the layer-forming strips 13-16 to the mandrel up to the point of application of a strip 30 of final wrapping material. This is a strip of paper such as Kraft paper having a width greater than the width of the layer-forming strips 13-16 all of which are of uniform width. The winding of the spiral tube is continued manually to a point somewhat beyond the free end of mandrel 11, the final wrapping 30 also being spirally wound by hand. After this completely formed portion of the spiral tube has been wound an endless driving belt 31 is mounted between two vertical supporting rolls or cylinders 32 and 33 arranged on framework 7 in a manner to be described. In mounting belt 31 its right hand run or side section 34 is wrapped around the formed spiral tube in position so as advantageously to encircle the first turn or wrapping of the full number of layers of the layer-forming strips 13-16, this point being indicated at 35 in FIGS. 1 and 2. After making this turn around the spiral tube the side section 34 of the belt continues to supporting roll 33. The opposite run or side section 36 returns to roll 32 which is the driving roll.

A second endless driving belt 37 is mounted between two supporting vertical rolls or cylinders 38 and 39, roll 38 being the driving roll. The right-hand run or side section 40 of belt 37, is applied to the formed tube advantageously in such manner as to encircle the tube around the first turn of final wrapping strip 30 around the tube as indicated at 41, and the side section 40 continues to supporting roll 39. As previously, the opposite side section 42 of belt 37 returns to driving roll After both driving belts 31 and 37 have been applied as described they are rotated by their respective driving rolls 32 and 38 at equal and constant speed of travel and the two belts serve to draw first the primary wrapping or layer-forming strips 13-16 from their supply rolls and the final wrapping strip 30 from its supply and glue rolls, neither of which is shown, and thus continue the winding of the spiral tube. The production of the tube in this manner may be carried on indefinitely and continuously, stopping only for the renewal of the supply rolls of both primary and secondary wrapping material.

The completed section of the spiral tube beyond the end of mandrel 11 and indicated by reference numeral 43 may be severed into sections of different lengths or of the same length, as desired, by means of a rotary power saw 44.

The driving rolls 32 and 38 are mounted on vertical drive shafts 45 and 46 which rotate in suitable bearings mounted on the lower and upper sections 8 and 9 of framework 7. Shafts 45 and 46 are interconnected by means of an endless chain 47 and equal size sprockets one on each shaft. Power may be sup plied to shaft 46 by means of a combined electric motor and speed reducing mechanism 48.

Belt supporting rolls 33 and 39 for the opposite ends of belts 31 and 37 are adjustably mounted on framework 7 in order to control the tension and wrapping force applied by the respective belts. Such mounting may be constructed in various ways. As shown the vertical shaft 49 for supporting roll 39 is supported in lower and upper bearings 50 and 51 which are arranged to slide on horizontal supports 52 and 53 secured respectively to lower and upper frames 8 and 9 in any suitable way.

Adjusting shafts 54 and 55 have threaded portions (not shown) within the supports 52 and 53 which engage the bearing supports 50 and 51 to cause them to move along the supports 52 and 53. Shafts 54 and 55 are interconnected by an endless chain 56 and suitable sprockets. A wrench may be applied to the square end 57 of the upper shaft 55 so as to simultaneously rotate these shafts and bring about the adjustment in the tension of endless belt 37. It will be understood that supporting roll or cylinder 33 for endless driving belt 31 may be adjusted in the manner just described in connection with the adjustment of roll 39.

I claim:

1. In a machine for forming a spiral tube composed of a plurality of biased encircling layers of deformable cushioning material having:

a stationary forming mandrel about which the tube is to be formed;

a source of a plurality of layer-forming strips of primary wrapping material. each primary strip being independently connectible in the form of a spiral to the tube being formed; and

a source of final wrapping strip material, the final wrapping strip being separately connectible in the form of a spiral to the exterior of the formed tube to cover the spiral layers of primary strips; the improvement in combination therewith which comprises:

a. the tube has a partially formed portion mounted on the inner end section of the mandrel;

b. a completely formed portion of said tube is on the outer end section of the mandrel;

c. a first endless driving belt has one of its side sections encircling the full number of layers of said primary wrapping material;

(1. a second endless driving belt has one of its side sections encircling the completely formed tube; and

e. means is provided for operating said first and second driving belts.

2. A machine for forming a spiral tube composed of a plurality of layers of deformable cushioning material as set forth in claim 1 in which the side section of the first endless driving belt encircles the first wrapping of the full number of layers of the primary wrapping material.

3. A machine for forming a spiral tube composed of a plurality of layers of deformable cushioning material as set forth in claim 1 in which the side section of the second endless driving belt encircles the first wrapping of the strip of final wrapping material and rotates the same to draw said strip around the formed tube.

4. A machine for forming a spiral tube composed of a plurality of layers of deformable cushioning material as set forth in claim 1 in which the first endless driving belt encircles the first wrapping of the full number of layers of primary wrapping material, and the second endless driving belt encircles the first wrapping of the strip of final wrapping material and rotates the same to draw said strip around the formed tube. 

